


to cut the gordian knot

by MegaSanduu



Series: brothers in arms [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker is a gift, Luke takes non of Anakin's shit, Obi-Wan Kenobi Gets a Hug, Open to Interpretation, i left the ending open, many types of love, no beta we die like man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24094576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegaSanduu/pseuds/MegaSanduu
Summary: To cut the Gordian knot- to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem with a simple solutionAfter the empire is defeated Luke and Anakin's force ghost have a heart to heart about a mutual friend.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Series: brothers in arms [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1738327
Comments: 7
Kudos: 86





	to cut the gordian knot

The whole galaxy felt different. Lighter, better, healthier. Birds were happier and flowers bloomed. Children laughed and adults felt more at ease. It was difficult to explain to someone who can’t feel it, he learned that just after he mentioned it to Han and Leia. His friend was confused, to say the least, but his sister admitted that it was a bit easier to breathe. 

Soon after the empire fell he was met with few fellow Force-sensitive teens willing to learn the ways of the Jedi. It was a surprise, but a welcome one. Soon he found himself as the leader of small Order. His students started calling him Master, even if he insisted that it was not the case. Luke stood before the biggest challenge yet: rebuilding the Order. Not only that but also improve it. Apparently, in the last years of its existence, the Jedi were steered away from its original purpose and form. At least that’s what he heard from Ahsoka before she left to find an old friend of hers, a fellow Jedi, Ezra. 

Without Ahsoka, Luke found himself a bit lost. He was once again on Dagobah, hoping to find some clue on what to do next. He thought that maybe Yoda had some… something that would tell him what to do now. Rebuilding the Order was easier said than done. No one knew how it operated before it became so intertwined with the Republic that it abandoned service to the Force in favour of service to the Senate. 

After all, Yoda was like 960 years old, he was practically there during the creation of the Republic. Besides, all old people have memoirs, journals, and other things like that. He would call on Master’s Force-ghost, but he rudely refused to show himself. His father told him not to sweat about it, as Yoda tends to act in strange ways to encourage others to find their own answers.

He was halfway done with the last of the closets when he felt a clear presence. A friendly one. 

“Missed me much?” He heard from the direction of the door. 

Luke turned around to great the presence with a warm smile. He got up only to hit himself on the head. 

“You didn’t give me any chance to start missing you.” He sat on the floor. “How did it go with Leia?”

Anakin sat on the ground on the other side of the hut and let out a breath. He looked around himself and once he laid his eyes on his son he smiled a little. 

“I’m clearly not as charming as I once used to be if my own daughter doesn’t want to have anything to do with me. She is so stubborn. Just like your mom.” 

Luke chuckled. Weirdly Anakin was not what he expected him to be and at the same time just as he imagined him. He was a confident, charming, passionate man clearly devoted to any cause he deemed worthy of his attention. Ultimately those qualities that would otherwise make him great man, husband and father turned out to be his downfall as a Jedi. 

When he looked in his eyes he saw Leia. Deep down she was just like him. Brave, cunning, devoted, unapologetic. He knew that there was no way for Anakin to fix things with someone just as stubborn as him. 

“Ben would probably beg to differ about which one of the two of you was the stubborn one.”

His father was clearly prepared to fail when talking to his twin if he was able to joke about it. He was hurt but not surprised. But when Luke mentioned old Ben Anakin got impossibly more see-through. He seemed smaller and younger. Luke immediately knew that something was wrong. “You didn’t come here to talk about Leia, did you?” 

Anakin smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He stood up and moved towards the door, and Luke knew to follow. 

Once outside they stood side by side, like father and son. Luke turned to study his face. He found no immediate resemblance, but when he looked closer he saw the blue eyes he was often complimented on. He saw his sisters nose, the same furrowed brows and determined look. Anakin must have noticed him staring because he turned to face him. 

“Obi-Wan must have told you about me.” His voice was filled with pain. “About the awful things I did to the Jedi, to him. Oh, Force if I could take it all back I would, I swear, Luke.” He looked determined. “But I cannot. Now my daughter and the only man who I ever respected hate me.” 

Luke studied his face for answers but couldn’t find any. Anakin Skywalker was still a big unknown in his book. The Hero With No Fear was here in front of him shaken and unsure. The younger man did not quite know what to make of it.

“What do you mean?” His father once again moved, this time to sit down on the tree bark, he patted the place next to him. Luke took his seat and waited for Anakin to explain. The Ghost was clearly struggling to put his words together. He inhaled a couple of times as if he was ready to say something but he let his breath leave his mouth slowly. 

It was ok. Luke had time to spare for him.

“Obi-Wan… or Ben, as you call him, he was once my master. My friend. My best friend.” He sighed and covered his face. He was quiet for a moment. Talking about Ben was clearly hard for him. “He taught me how to hold a lightsaber, meditate, how to behave myself. He was like an older brother to me, but I didn’t treat him with due respect. I was selfish, bratty, overly confident and full of myself. I guess that the role of the chosen one got to my head.” 

Luke shook his head and turned to look at his father. 

“Ben has only ever spoken highly of you.” He reached behind his father and set his palm on the tree bark to mimic a hug. “He said you were a hero, a brilliant tactician and a great pilot. Most importantly he said you were his friend and brother in arms. He always said that Vader took over, and I should not think of him and you as the same person.”

Anakin shot his son another sad smile. He moved his hand and set it on top of his son’s shoulder. The presence was ghostly but warm and welcome.

“Ben didn’t want you to hate your own father. He wasn’t completely right or wrong. The emotions that allowed Vader to exist were my emotions. Vader did do things that I could never do, but it was my bottled anger that allowed him to surface. The same way as my love for you, Leia and Padmé allowed me to return.” He once again hid his face in his hands and let out a sigh. “But it doesn’t matter who did what. Obi-Wan hates me for what I did to him. How could he not? I betrayed his teachings, became a Sith, destroyed his beloved republic, killed children and to top it all off I killed him.” 

Luke had to admit, when his father presented it in this light the whole ordeal sounded pretty hopeless. He used his prosthetic arm to comb through his hair. He knew about it all. He chose to separate the man that his father was from what he had become due to Emperor’s manipulations. Some may call him naive, but he knew that his father wasn’t evil at the core. He was put through much more than any soul in the galaxy through his lifetime, and he at least deserved to know that his son respects him after his death.

Ben or Obi-Wan didn’t seem to be the type to absolutely burn all the bridges behind himself. Sure he might have lied about… a lot of… very crucial things. However, to tell a man he basically raised to get lost, when in his journals he wrote almost daily about how he blames himself for everything Anakin did? It did not sound like Ben at all.

“And he really told you that?”

Anakin turned to look at his son. 

“What? No! He refuses to talk to me!”

Luke just stared him dead in the eye.

“What is that supposed to mean?” 

“Well, technically I didn’t go out of my way to speak with him. I thought that maybe if he wants to forgive me he will… Reach out? Show himself? Give me a Force note? You know…? Would you like me to bother you if you were him?”

It was Luke’s turn to sigh and bury his face in his palms. How come, that the most powerful Jedi was this dense? What an absolute unit. And he had thought that Leia was an apple that fell not far from the tree. What a disaster of a man. 

“Oh, my stars, dad…” His speech was muffled by his own hands. “You haven’t even talked to him? How do you expect him to forgive you if you don’t make the effort?” 

Anakin stood up and threw his hands up. Now he was clearly agitated and angry.

“Well, what am I supposed to say? ‘Hello Obi-Wan, how have you been? Sorry for destroying your entire life and leaving you with my kid alone in the literal asshole of the universe that is Tatooine?’ Did that sound ok?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact, it sounded better than ghosting him. Trust me, there’s nothing he wants more than to have you by his side again.” 

“How do you know? You didn’t see him on Mustafar! He was so… disappointed with me.”

Luke could see his father’s chest fall as he let out a giant breath. 

“You didn’t read his journal. He wasn’t disappointed with you, he was disappointed with himself…”

Anakin shook his head and turned away from his son. “That is even worse!”

Luke let out a loud sigh to get his father’s attention. “Will you let me finish?” His father nodded. “Thank you. What I meant is that for twenty years he spent every day of his life thinking about you, blaming himself for every single mistake you ever made and counting exactly how many of his missteps affected you.” 

Anakin made a miserable face and started dissolving into nothingness.

“I am still not done.” Luke waited for his father to come back to his normal state. “What I meant is that all he ever wanted is a second chance with you.”

The silence was palpable. Luke expected… well, he expected a reaction. Instead, his father was just standing there looking at him. His eyes became watery and it was clear that the last sentence got to him. Then he just laughed. It was good and joyous laugh. The force resonated with calmness for the first time since the Ghost showed up.

“Trust me, the feeling is mutual.” Anakin slowly turned and started walking away. Luke understood that his father made a decision and he had to act before his bravado left him. 

“Do you even know what you will say to him?” Anakin stopped for a moment and then turned around to wink at him. His father disappeared into thin air. 

***

Obi-Wan sat on a rock and watched as the twin suns set before him. One in front of another, but always together. He wished he could pick up poetry to read, even though that at this point he knew every poem in his little book. His eyes followed the suns as they raced each other to the horizon. 

It was two weeks since he saved Anakin’s mind from becoming one with the Force. They did not talk since then. He felt him in the Force, but away from him, always near Luke, Leia or Ahsoka. He understood. He had family, he had to try and fix what he could there. He didn’t blame him for staying away from him. Why would he spend time with the shell of a man that Obi-Wan was when he could watch his children succeed in life. The truth was, he didn’t share the secret of preserving oneself in the force after death in the force so that he can apologise to Anakin, and finally tell him all the things he never had the chance to. And he most definitely was not lying to himself.

_Who was he kidding? He counted every single second since he felt Anakin’s presence linger in the Force. His heart ached to talk to him, but who was he to invite himself into his former padawan’s elbow room with his guilt and tears. No, it was better that way. He had his chance. He wasted it._

He expected the fire to wash down his entire existence with hot presence. He was waiting to be swept away by the hurricane of familiar feelings. He wanted to drown in the sea of Force and be born anew without a single worry. That’s how he imagined Anakin reentering his life.

Instead, he got a warm breeze. It filled him with love and nervousness and anticipation. 

A fellow ghost sat on the rock next to him. 

“Hiding in the sand?” His old friend asked. “You know me too well.”

Obi-Wan chuckled and basked in a warm presence. He missed this aura. He thought that he will never be able to enjoy this closeness again. 

“I wasn’t hiding.” He said. He was done with lies and half-truths. “But I was hesitant to speak with you.” 

There was something else there. A certain uneasiness strangling both of them. They both knew that they felt the same. As if they were being swallowed by warm quicksands. Comforting but dangerous. 

But Anakin was here. With him. Sitting so close he felt the sheer power emanating from his being. He wanted Obi-Wan back in his life. It was new to him, feeling wanted. Feeling like he belonged. Would he even dare to say he felt… loved? Yes. That’s what it meant. When you bask in someone’s presence it’s love. Love has many faces and it hurts if it’s real. At least that’s what people say.

He turned to see an old face smiling at him hesitantly. So similar yet so alien. “Anakin… there are no words to express how sorry I am.” 

There was a momentary silence. His friend’s face became blank, his signature read confusion and grief. Obi-Wan couldn’t stand the other man’s uncertainty, so he continued.

“I failed you as a master and as a friend. I should have known that Palpatine was evil. I should have told you to leave the order and live with Padmé. I shouldn’t have left you there on Mustafar.” 

Obi-Wan was shivering. Anakin looked at him and he saw him crying. He immediately gathered the older man in his arms. It felt so good to be so close to him, after all those years of guilt and regret he was finally comforted. In Anakin’s arms, he felt like he was neck-deep in warm honey. Obi-Wan put his head on the other man’s shoulder.

“Don’t you ever dare blame yourself for my mistakes again, do you hear me? It should be me asking for your forgiveness.” He hugged the old man closer to himself and rocked delicately from side to side at calm his old Master down as he sobbed into his shoulder. 

“The Empire, Padmé, Mustafar… it’s all on me and that scum Palpatine.” He couldn’t stop his own tears from falling down his face. “I failed you as a student, as a friend and as a brother.” His voice broke. “You were the only one besides Qui-Gon to believe in me and I betrayed you.”

“Anakin, I’ve missed you so much.” Obi-Wan’s voice muffled by His friend’s shoulder. “I thought you were lost, lost because of me.” He looked up at his old friend. “But you’re here. You’re back here with me. It’s all that matters. Palpatine and Empire are gone. It’s just us now.”

Anakin smiled through his own tears. “I’ll never leave you again, my friend.”

They stayed like that for a while. They had all the time in the universe. Slowly both of them moved to sit on the sand with their backs against the rock. The didn’t speak, but they reassured each other through the force. They’ve never had a moment like this, sitting in the warm evening sun, watching binary sunset together arm in arm, with their feelings flowing freely between them.

Obi-Wan was the one to speak first.

“A poem came to me.”

Anakin chuckled. His eyes were closed, and his fingers were laced on his stomach. He looked and felt so peaceful. He turned his head towards his friend slowly and lazily without opening his eyes. Only when they were face to face he cracked one lid open to reveal a blue eye.

“One from Satine’s book?” His voice was sleepy, which made Obi-Wan smile as he nodded. “Can I hear it?”

Instead of answering his former padawan’s question, he closed his eyes and started reciting:

> _Through these fields of destruction_
> 
> _Baptism of fire_
> 
> _I've witnessed your suffering_
> 
> _As the battles raged higher_
> 
> _And though they did hurt me so bad_
> 
> _In the fear and alarm_
> 
> _You did not desert me_
> 
> _My brother in arms_

As the words escaped his mouth the suns were finishing their race to the horizon line. Some might pity the white son as it is never the first to finish, but Obi-Wan knew better than that. He knew that sometimes it is an honour to follow the right person. Some people tend to run through life not looking back until it’s too late. They need to have a reason to look behind. That’s why from now till the end of eternity where there will be Skywalker, Kenobi will not be far behind.

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't leave my poor man like that, so here comes part two!  
> I also shamelessly used lyrics from Dire Straits' "Brothers In Arms" as a piece of poetry that Obi-Wan recites to Anakin, this song just suddenly hit me as I was writing their reunion and I had to. Besides trust me it's much better than anything I would have written.  
> I left the ending for those two open to interpretation, so I tagged both platonic and slash.  
> I always welcome constructive criticism <3


End file.
